Ms. Meredith Ogilvie‐Thompson

Born and raised in New York City, Meredith fell in love with Africa from an early age. After completing her studies in Political Science at Columbia University, she travelled across Tanzania and Kenya, spending time with leading scientists and beginning a lifelong commitment to conservation and community development in Africa.

In 1991, after two years at Time in New York, Meredith returned to Africa where she worked as a journalist reporting on political, financial and environmental stories for Business Day in Johannesburg. During her years in South Africa, she was involved with various organisations that focused on rural development and wildlife management in and around natural resource extraction areas.

Her conservation experience brought Meredith to Tusk Trust in 1999, initially as a member of the Appeals Committee in London, and later as Trustee and Executive Director of Tusk USA. She subsequently served as the Senior Managing Director for Africa at Aldwych Capital Partners, advising African sovereigns and businesses, and most recently as the Founder and CEO of Pangolin LLC, an Africa-focused strategic advisory.

Meredith has worked in both documentary as well as feature film, is a Founding Director of Big Life, a member of the Advisory Board of Stop Ivory, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London. She continues to write freelance, her work appearing in the Financial Times, The Telegraph, Vogue, and Porter, among others.